About Matt

“Johanson writes with the sensitivity of a starving gorilla using a chainsaw to open a can of soup.” So wrote a disgruntled reader. A Tea Party leader called Matt’s commentary “hack garbage” and ESPN turned down his work as “too pro-Giants.” Johanson refuses to quit, though. After all, he once got unique encouragement from baseball great Willie Mays. “Just write whatever you want,” Mays told him. And so he does, writing about the outdoors, travel, politics, education and sports for California newspapers and magazines.